The Orion, or Researches into the Antiquity of the Vedas c6.54

Language: English

c6.54.1

In the absence of anything to the contrary we might therefore take it as established that in the early Vedic days the year began when the sun was in the vernal equinox; and as the sun then passed from the south to the north of the equator it was also the commencement of his northern passage. In other words, the Uttarāyaṇa (if such a word was then used), Vasanta, the year and the Satras all commenced together at the vernal equinox. The autumnal equinox which came after the rains was the central day of the year; and the latter half of the year was named the Pitṛyāṇa or what we would now call the Dakṣiṇāyana. It is difficult to definitely ascertain the time when the commencement of the year was changed from the vernal equinox to the winter solstice. But the change must have been introduced long before the vernal equinox was in the Kṛttikās, and when this change was made uttarāyaṇa must have gradually come to denote the first half of the new year, i. e., the period from the winter to the summer solstice, especially as the word itself was capable of being understood in the sense of "turning towards the north from the southernmost point," I am of opinion, however, that devayāna and pitṛyāna, or devaloka and pitṛloka were the only terms used in the oldest times. It is a natural inference from the fact that the word uttarāyaṇa, as such, does not occur in the Rigveda.

c6.54.2

The fact, that Viṣuvān was the central day of the yearly satra, further shows that the sacrificial system was coeval with the division of the year into the paths of Devas and Pitṛs. After a certain period the beginning of the year was changed to the winter solstice, and it was sometime after this change was made that the words uttarāyaṇa and dakṣiṇāyana came to be used to denote the solstitial divisions of the year. But devayāna and pitṛyāna could not be at once divested of the ideas which had already become associated with them. Thus while new feasts and sacrifices came to be regulated according to uttarāyaṇa and dakṣiṇāyana, devayāna and pitṛyāna with all the associated ideas continued to exist by the side of the new system, until they became either gradually assimilated with the new system or the priests reconciled the new and the old systems by allowing option to individuals to follow whichever they deemed best. We must therefore take great care not to allow the idea of *uttarâyaṇa*, as we now understand it, to obscure our vision in interpreting the early Vedic traditions, and that too much care can never be taken is evident from the fact that even so acute an astronomer as Bhâskarâchârya was at a loss to correctly understand the tradition that the Uttarâyaṇa was the day of the Devas. In his Siddhânta Shiromaṇi he raises the question how the Uttarâyaṇa, as it was generally understood in his day, could be the day of the Devas.

c6.54.3

He admits that the celestial beings on Meru at the North Pole behold the sun (during all the six months) when he is in the northern hemisphere (vii. 9) and these six months may therefore be properly called their day.* But the word *uttarâyaṇa* was then used to denote the period of six months from the winter to the summer solstice; and Bhâskarâchârya was unable to understand how such an Uttarâyaṇa could be called the day of the Devas by the writers of the astronomical Sanhitâs. If the sun is visible to the Gods at Meru from the vernal equinox to the summer solstice, its passage back to the autumnal equinox lies through the same latitudes and in that passage, *i. e.*, during three months after the summer solstice, the sun must, says Bhâskarâchârya, be visible to the Gods. But according to the Sanhitâ-writers the day of the Devas ended with the Uttarâyaṇa, that is, as Bhâskara understood the word, at the summer solstice. How is this conflict to be reconciled?

c6.54.4

Bhâskarâchârya could give no satisfactory solution of the difficulty, and asks his readers to reconcile the conflicting statements on the supposition that the doctrine may be regarded as referring to "judicial astrology and the fruits it foretells."* Had Bhâskarâchârya however known that the word uttarâyana was sometimes used for devayâna to denote the passage of the sun from the vernal to the autumnal equinox, I am sure, he would not have asked us to be satisfied with the lame explanation that the doctrine of the Sanhitâ-writers need not be mathematically correct as it refers exclusively to judicial astrology. It is difficult to say whether the ancient Aryas ever lived so near the north pole as to be aware of the existence of a day extending over at least two or three if not six months of the year. But the idea that the day of the Devas commences when the sun passes to the north of the equator, appears to be an old one. In the Taittirîya Brâhmaṇa iii. 9. 22. 1.